OpenAI CRO Claims Anthropic Overstates Run Rate by $8B
An internal OpenAI memo alleges Anthropic is inflating its run rate through revenue-sharing deals with Amazon and Google.
OpenAI's Chief Revenue Officer Denise Dresser fired a shot across the bow at rival Anthropic — internally, at least. In a four-page memo sent to OpenAI employees on Sunday, Dresser alleged that Anthropic is "grossing up rev share with Amazon and Google" and overstating its run rate by roughly $8 billion.
The memo, first reported by Hayden Field at The Verge, suggests OpenAI leadership views Anthropic's headline financial figures with deep skepticism. The core claim: Anthropic's reported run rate is artificially inflated by counting revenue-sharing arrangements with its two biggest cloud partners at face value.
Run rate — an annualized projection of current revenue — is a key metric startups use to signal momentum to investors and the market. An $8B overstatement, if accurate, would dramatically change how Anthropic's business trajectory looks relative to OpenAI's.
Neither Anthropic nor its cloud partners have publicly responded to the claims.